Mutombo Out 2 Weeks

NBA - NBA Beat

Atlanta Hawks center Dikembe Mutombo has a mild case of malaria and is expected to miss about two weeks.

"It's not life threatening. It's not career threatening," Hawks General Manager Pete Babcock said Tuesday. "It sounds terrible, but it's really like a bad case of the flu."

Doctors said they believe Mutombo contracted the disease when he was bitten by a mosquito during a September trip to the Congo, Babcock said. Malaria, which is not contagious, usually is characterized by chills, fever and sweating.